Edinburgh musings

Well, now that I've been on the original side of the pond for a full 5 days, I have several items to report;

• If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. I have experienced downpours, violent winds, rainbows, mist, and sunlit blue skies, all in the space of a single day.
• It is, as reputed, somewhat damp and cold, but there are unending pots of tea to consume, which helps.
• Every beer has its own style of pint glass (with the possible exception of the seasonals). Seriously, a Peroni comes in a different glass than a Heineken, comes in a different glass than a Deuchars, comes in a different glass than a Hoegaarden. Amazing. One suspects US bartenders wouldn't put up with that - clearly they're not taking their beer sufficiently seriously.
  
  
  
• Many flats feature a room known as a "box room" - this is not a room in which to store boxes, it is a room without windows. I cannot imagine it, but apparently some people use them for bedrooms. I'm thinking storage, cat litter, etc.
• Most doors seem to open inwards, into the shop from the street (except those that do not). Ages ago, The Scottish Cowgirl told me that doors in the States to rooms holding more than 25 people must open out, in case of fire. Clearly that doesn't apply here.

More to come, I'm sure. Meanwhile, the flat-hunt continues!

Photo from ePints.

Shuesday: Vote with your feet

Doesn't this remind you of Election Day bunting? Or something? Also, might go nicely with the occasional baggage below?

Just a thought.

Have you voted? Polls are still open ...

Moschino at Nordstrom

In case you didn't get the memo

I'm flying off to my new life in Edinburgh tonight, never to return.

OK, not /never/ to return - yes, I can be a drama queen. I expect to be there 2-3 years, before returning to my homeland in the Great White North.

The luggage will at least get across the Atlantic - cross your fingers it gets from LHR to EDI, please!

I'll miss NYC, but I will be back, I promise. And there will be fabulous in Edinburgh, I'm just sure of it.

Occasional Baggage: Part IV

This post is appropriately timed because the movers came yesterday and gathered all the things I carry and took them away in a big truck so they can travel across the Atlantic and meet me in Edinburgh in 5-6 weeks. There will be no shopping for a while - the thing about packing is that you realize really just how much you own, and no one is certain that there are sufficient closets in the old country for all my bits - but a girl can dream, and who doesn't love black ruffles?

Actually, this also reminds me a bit of several of J. Crew's latest tops.

Valentino at BG

Photo courtesy of Fashion Fuss

Shuesday: Speaking of ridiculous

Recently, in the Times:

Are high heels all about sexual advantage, since they elongate and exaggerate the female form? Or is there another explanation? What liberates women and what shackles them, when it comes to shoes?

Anna-Marie Fitzgerald, a book publicist who lives in London, is co-editor, with Phoebe Frangoul, of Pamflet, a feminist fashion and pop culture zine and blog says:

Elongating the leg and squashing the toes, a skyscraper shoe is an addictive, paradoxical combination of pain (ouch), power (taller, but you can’t walk) and beauty (a peep-toed sigh). That Louboutin under-lick of red is a tantalizing hint of flesh, the stiletto spike a phallic shadow and in one’s pinched toes — sensation there lies an exquisite kind of torture. We can’t honestly wonder at the agonies of the 19th-century corset or foot-binding when we’re obsessed with “the shoe,” can we?

And, as Jennifer Scanlon is author of “Bad Girls Go Everywhere,” a biography of Helen Gurley Brown, and a professor of gender and women’s studies at Bowdoin College, says:

As Helen Gurley Brown realized, women are no better — and no worse — at making decisions big and small than men are. They simply have more shoes to choose from — and make a wider range of choices. Who’s going to draw the line on just how high a heel is practical, or healthful or sexy?

Edinburgh wardrobe: Part 6

I do like a suit, and red prevents anyone from blending in with the rest of the penguins. Plus, it's Dior ...

When in doubt

At a sample sale, it's always better to buy first, and answer questions later.

Madame Royale

This royal fleur-de-lis represents Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, who was known by the honorific "Madame Royale." She was imprisoned from the time of the French Revolution in 1789 till the end of the Reign of Terror in 1794, and was the only member of her immediate family to survive.

My first WendyB piece! And I love that it's dedicated to a survivor. If my mother's taught me anything (and she's taught me a lot), it's the importance of survival. Which will help with the gray skies of Edinburgh to come.

Also, I have a serious susceptibility to fleur de lis. Just saying.